For the last two weeks I had the exact same to-do list up. In those two weeks, I did exactly NOTHING on that list.

Why? Well because there was just a lot on that list. Sure I did things. I rehearsed for the upcoming recording sessions. I lined up parts of my upcoming crowdfunding campaign. I arranged a trip to Baltimore to go to a fencing competition because I have that kind of spare time in my life. Oh, wait… I don’t actually…but FENCING! It’s one of the few things I love as much as music. If only I was as good at fencing as I am at guitar…

Today I decided that I was going to at least start that list. Turns out I already had started.

Two of the items on the list were duplicates of others. *WHEW!* That was easy. Another two items are actually waiting on someone to get back to me, so, while they’re not done, I can’t really do anything with them at this point. That’s a total of four items that I don’t have to worry about right now.

Thus the list begins to shrink…

Item number one on the list has been ongoing for weeks. OK, no, it’s not technically done, but it’s one of those items that will never truly be complete. It will be an ongoing social-media related task.

Another item has been complete for a while, I just needed to organize my thoughts and finalize two small details.

That leaves four things left to do and those four are all related. So when I start the first, I should be able to roll right into the next three without a problem.

Right about now you’re probably about ready to ask me what my point is. Funny you should ask! I was just getting to that.

Here’s my point: I lost an entire week’s worth of really hitting some very important tasks because I let the sheer number of items on the list spook me. I froze.

When I took the time to assess what was really on the list, it shrank almost by itself.

So let my lesson be your lesson. Don’t panic. Assess the situation before you freeze and then just get started. Just do something. I started with two duplicate items just so I could watch the list go down. Once you start seeing it shrink, you start to get excited about finishing the next task. That leads to completing a third task and so on.

Try it out! Take something that seems herculean and just start chipping away at it.

If you’ve enjoyed this nugget of wisdom, you may also enjoy my weekly podcast with Liz Tapia of Dark Beauty fame. Check it out every Wednesday at 8PM: ChatterboxRocks.com